A Karnataka court today granted bail to Gali Janardhana Reddy, Ballari mining baron and a former state minister, three days after he was arrested along with an aide in a bribery case. According to reports, he was made to furnish a bond of Rs 1 lakh as surety.
The bribery case against Mr Reddy involves a private enterprise called Ambident Group, which is accused of cheating thousands of people to the tune of Rs 600 crore through a ponzi scheme. Firm owner Syed Ahmed Fareed alleged that he had paid a bribe of Rs 18 crore to be spared an Enforcement Directorate probe after the matter came to light. Mr Reddy, who was a minister in the then government headed by BS Yeddyurappa, allegedly demanded the money during a meeting a hotel, he said.
The 49-year-old former minister had earlier spent three years in jail before being let out on bail. He appeared for questioning at the Crime Branch office on the evening of November 10, after which he was arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Money Laundering Act and sent to 14 days' judicial custody.
Mr Reddy has rejected all the charges levelled against him, terming it as a "political conspiracy". The defence counsel also questioned the necessity of arresting the mining baron when five other accused in the case were already out on bail.
Ballari had been a BJP stronghold since 2004, with Mr Reddy playing a major role in ensuring the party's supremacy there. However, the Congress-Janata Dal(Secular) pulled off a shocking win at the Lok Sabha constituency in the recent byelections, with their joint pick VS Ugrappa beating the BJP's candidate, V Shanta, by a huge margin.
(With inputs from PTI)
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